Richard Goddard
The New World Champion Having secured his first World Drivers' Championship in Brazil, Jenson Button made a triumphant return to his homeland in Great Britain the following day. Hosting a Q&A session with his fans at the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent, Button confessed “We’re not going to forget about this for a long time. Every morning I wake up, until next season, I’m going to have a smile on my face. I’ve had a difficult time of it in the past. It’s about staying strong in the difficult times. You need good people around you to keep you positive and keep your feet on the ground. I’ve made mistakes along the way but I’ve put them right and I think people appreciate that.” ''It was not all smiles for some of his fans though, one fan admitting ''"I don't understand why he didn't spend time with both sides of the crowd, rather than leaving so quickly." Button spent the next day with his team at the Brawn headquarters in Brackley. In the auditorium of the team's factory, the 450 employees at Brawn GP welcomed Button with his own personal rendition of 'We Are The Champions' that he had sung over the team radio in Brazil. Button paying tribute to his team, stated "“I’m really here today to say a massive well done and thank you to everyone at the team. We’ve worked so hard for these achievements for so many years. Some of us were here from the beginning back in 1998 and I arrived halfway through our journey in 2003 but everyone has put so much work in. I know that there have been a lot of very difficult times and over the winter there were times when we didn’t think that we would be here at all. It’s very sad that not everyone can be here who worked on this fantastic car. But the team had to become smaller to continue and together we produced a car that has been exceptional this season." Notably, neither Ross Brawn or his teammate, Rubens Barrichello attended the ceremony. However Button ensured to acknowledge his teammate and team principal, “Rubens gave us two more wins in Valencia and Monza at an important time to boost our morale and prove just how quick the car was. We have a great leader, a fantastic leader, in Ross. The Big Bear can’t be here today but I know that when he gets back, he’ll be celebrating with you! We proved in Brazil last weekend that we deserve these championships." Barrichello, having failed to take the world title was confirmed to be leaving the team in hoping to bring success to the Williams team. Barrichello was set to be joined at Williams by reigning GP2 champion, Nico Hülkenberg. Commenting on Hülkenberg, his manager, Willy Weber stated "Great expectations. I think he has new teammate, Rubens Barrichello under control." With Nico Rosberg expected to take Barrichello's seat at Brawn, questions began to centre as to whether Button would remain with the team into the new season. Button noted "I’m not looking for a new team. I want to be with Brawn. We just haven’t discussed it during the season. And it was right not to do so because we had to focus on winning a world championship. Now we can sit down and discuss it a bit more.” Nonetheless, there was continued speculation that Button was poised for a switch to McLaren. McLaren's title sponsor, Vodafone, were believed to be determined to ensure this move and have Britain's two current World Champions partnered in the same team. These rumours were further bolstered with an acknowledgement from Lewis Hamilton whom stated "I'd welcome Jenson as my team-mate. He's a level-headed and very committed guy. He has earned the World Championship and he's done a great job over the years, I couldn't be happier for him. He will be a tough competitor next year, whether at Brawn or McLaren." Although Button wished to remain loyal to his team, his manager, Richard Goddard, was more forefront concerning the issue. Goddard stated "Brawn could have sorted Jenson out weeks ago and none of this would be going on, that speculation won't die until Brawn offer him new terms; a lot of quality seats may still be available, so it's down to Brawn to make us an offer, but this stuff certainly did not stem from us." Category:Personnel